Learning how to play the best ukulele chords is an exciting experience. Although it takes time to play the right chords, you can certainly achieve your goals if you practice consistently.
After some time, you’ll be good enough to start playing some of your favorite songs on your ukulele. But for this to happen, you need to find the chords of the song in question. Here, we’ll look at 5 best ukulele chords that you should understand for better playability.
What is a Chord?
A chord is a set of notes that are played together to produce a desired sound. To play a popular song or one of your favourite songs, you need to find out the chords to play and in what order you need to play them.
Common Ukulele Chords
The most popular ukulele chords are also a part of the easiest to play ukulele chords as well. These common or popular ukulele chords include:
- C
- D
- G
- and F chords
Besides the four mentioned chords above, chords Am and A are also popular and ideal to master. If you learn and understand how to play the chords mentioned above, then you can attempt to play any ukulele song.
That’s because many songs are usually made using these chords. However, you should also try learning and practicing new chords to explore your musical potential.
What Makes a Good Chord?
Music is a powerful form of telling a story. Regardless of the concept and nature of the story, music will have you listening closely to the story. Therefore, a good ukulele chord is one that tells you a part of the story.
Chord progression is one of the most important things to learn about ukulele chords. Because once you understand the concept, then it becomes easier to tell your story on a ukulele.
5 Best Ukulele Chords
1. C Chord
The C chord is the most common ukulele chord that you will come across. It is also necessary to know how to play chord especially for beginners. As one of the easiest to learn, the C chord further comes in different forms but not something that you can’t manage with consistent practice.
As for fingering, you can use your ring finger on the third fret of your ukulele, and this should be at the bottom string.
2. A Minor
Like the C chord, A minor is also one of the most common ukulele chords. It also fall under the category of easy to learn ukulele chords. Many ukulele songs use this chord alongside others and A minor is one of the four standard ukulele chords.
Therefore, it would be best to learn playing this chord before advancing into other areas. When it comes to fingering, you can use your middle finger on the second fret of your ukulele. However, this has to be done on the top string unlike the C major as explained above.
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3. G Major
As you can see, this is another common ukulele chord on the list. Like the first two chords, this one is also used in many ukulele songs. That’s not all, the G major also makes the list for the easiest to play ukulele chords.
As for fingering, you need to use your index finger on the 2nd fret of the ukulele but this has to be on the bottom string. Additionally, you also need to use your ring finger on the fourth fret of the third string if you want to play the G major chord right.
4. F Major
The F Major is easy to play and master. Nevertheless, you need to practice consistently and appropriately to play the F major chord well. F major has been used in many songs as well so learning to play it puts you at an advantage of playing more ukulele songs well.
It might seem intimidating at first to play especially as a beginner. However, you can learn to play the F major properly with optimal practice and hard work.
For fingering, you can bring your index finger on board and stroke the first fret of the second string. You’ll then use your ring finger on the second fret of the top string of your ukulele to execute this chord properly.
Remember, consistent practice is key when it comes to practicing such complex ukulele chords.
5. E Minor
Lastly, we have the E minor ukulele chord. This is another easy to play chord and makes the list for one of the most common ukulele chords that you can come across. E minor might not be that easy to learn playing at first, but none of the mentioned chords above is a breeze to play as well.
Of course, that statement is mostly applicable to beginners and not professional ukulele players. Note that no one started as an expert ukulele player, no.
You have to work your way up to grasp all the needed techniques to play the chords properly. Fortunately, this is achievable and it mostly depends on you as an individual.
You can use your index finger on the second fret of the bottom string and your ring finger on the fourth fret of the third string of your ukulele to execute the E minor chord.
Conclusion
While there are many ukulele chords that you should learn to play, the 5 best ukulele chords explained above are the best to start with. So, get your uke start learning and have fun playing your favourite songs.